Machine for operating upon sheet material



May2l, 1940. M. D. WILLIAMS MACHINE FOR OPERATING UPON SHEET MATERIAL Filed Jan. 9, 1939 Patented May 21, 1940 MACHINE FOR OPERATING UPO-N SHEET MATER IAL Maurice D. Williams, Nelsonville, Ohio, assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Borough of Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 9,

10 Claims.

The present invention relates to machines for operating on sheet material and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine which is particularly adapted. for assembling Vamps and toe pieces of imitation moccasin uppers. A machine of this type is illustrated and described in United States Letters Patent No. 2,027,445, granted J anuary 14,1936, on an application of Lester S. Macdonald.

In the manufacture of shoes having imitation moccasin uppers it is a common practice to assemble the toe piece and the vamp of the upper by hand preparatory to the permanent attachment of said parts by a sewn seam. In so assembling the tongue and the vamp it is usual to bevel the edge faces to be united, apply. adhesive to said edge faces and press them together at selected points in a position relatively to each other determined by registration of marks in the adjacent margins of the work pieces. After the work pieces have been thus preliminarily attached to each other the beveled edgefaces are manually pressed together beginning at one end of the line of union and working progressively to the opposite end. This method is slow, tedious and unreliable and the bond thus created between the work pieces cannot be relied upon and frequently the work pieces separate from each other during the stitching operation, seriously retarding this operation and sometimes causing a crippled upper.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved machine of simple and inexpensive construction which will reliably and uniformly assemble together work pieces such, for example, as the toe piece and vamp of an imitation moccasin upper.

Accordingly, a feature of the invention consists in the provision in a machine for operating upon sheet material of work engaging means having.

It will be appreciated that the utility of the illustrated machine is not limited to the assembling of toe pieces and Vamps of imitation moccasin uppers but is adapted to operate on sheet material generally to attach marginal portions of work pieces edge-to-edge at an angle to each 1939, Serial No. 249,888

other so as to form said margins into a rib adapted to receive a sewn seam.

The invention will now be described with ref erence to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspectivev view of a machine embodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation illustrating the work engaging parts of the machine with parts of two work pieces positioned between them;

Fig. 3 is a'perspective view illustrating parts of two work pieces after they have been united by the illustrated machine, and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the toe piece an vamp of an imitation moccasin upper which have been united by the illustrated machine. I

Referring to Fig. 1, the illustrated machine comprises astandard I!) having at opposite ends upward extensions l2 having at their upper ends alined bearings l4 within which there is journaled a rotary shaft l6 which is operated by means including a belt l8 and a pulley 2t secured toone end of the shaft i6. At or near its longitudinal center the shaft H5 is provided with an annular V groove 22 the depth of which is approximately one third of the diameter of the shaft. The walls of the groove 22- are arranged at an angle of approximately to each other. The walls of the groove22 engage the margins of work pieces to be united, for example the work pieces 24 and 26 illustrated in Fig. 2.

For holding the work pieces against the walls of the groove 22 the illustrated machine is provided with a vertical sliding shaft 28 which is mounted in a barrel 30 in the standard it and slides in bearings 32 and 34 at opposite ends of the barrel. At its .upper end the sliding shaft 28 is provided with a hemispherical recess within which there is freely mounted a ball 3% which, as illustrated in Fig. 2, engages the work pieces and holds them against the rotary shaft iii. For moving the sliding shaft 28 upwardly a coil spring 38 is mounted on the reduced lower portion of said shaft and confined between the bearing 35 at the lower end of the barrel 3!] and a collar til secured to the reduced portion of the shaft 28. For moving the shaft 28 downwardly to permit-the work pieces to be positioned between the ball 36 and the walls of the groove22 a treadle (not shown) is connected to the lower end of the sliding shaft 28.

The illustrated machine willnow be described in itsoperation upon toe pieces and Vamps of imitation moccasin uppers such, for example, as, the toe piece 42 and vamp 44 illustrated in Fig. e as they appear after they have been secured together by the illustrated machine. The beveled edge faces of the toe piece and vamp after having received a coat of cement are first assembled by manually pressing the cemented edge faces together at selected points, for example, at each end of the line of union, at the toe end of the v Vamp, and at an intermediate point ateach side of the vamp. This preliminary assembly locates the toe piece and vamp in correct relation to each other, thus preventing dislocation of the work pieces in the operation of the machine by movemerit of one of the work pieces relatively to the 7 other. This preliminary assembly also facilitates the operation of the machine by enabling the operator to handle the work as aunit rather than as two separate pieces. the toe piece and the vamp as above described the operator depresses the treadle to move the sliding shaft 28 downwardly in order that a the adjacent margins of the toe piece and vamp may be positioned between the ball 36 and the grooved portion of the rotary shaft H5. The operation on the work may commence at either end of the line of union. After the toe piece and vamp have' been positioned in the machine the operator takes his foot off the treadleand the spring 38 moves the sliding shaft 23 upwardly,- pressing the ball 36 at the upper end of the shaft against the inner surfaces of the adjacent margins of the toe pieces and vamp. The shaft I6 is then rotatedin the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1- and at the same time the operator urges the marginal portions of the work toward each other until their edges meet at the apex of the V groove 22 in the shaft IS. The work will be fed largely by the rotation of the shaft IE but the operator is required to assist the shaft IS in the feeding of the work since the work engaging portions'of the shaft are smooth surfaces and merely slide over the surfaces of the work pieces whenever a slight increase in thickness in one or both of the work pieces causes increased resistance to the feeding of the work through the machine. This condition should not appreciably retard the operation of the machine since the operator holds the Work pieces in his hands during the entire operation and will find no difiiculty in manually feeding the work whenevernecessary without seriously delaying the operation of the-machine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine for operating upon sheet material, work engaging means having two work engaging faces arranged to form a V groove and to rotate about a common axis, said faces-being constructed and arranged to receive between them adjacent upturned margins of two work pieces and a freely rotating member for holding the work pieces against the work engaging means.

2. In a machine for operating upon sheet material, a driven rotor having an annular V groove constructed and arranged to receive between its walls adjacent upturned margins of work pieces arranged edge-to-edge, and means for holding the work pieces against the rotor comprising a work engaging roll and a carrier for the roll movable in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the said rotor.

3. In a machine for operating upon sheet material, a driven rotor having an annular V groove constructed and arranged to receive between its walls adjacent upturned margins of work pieces arranged edge-to-edge, a work supporting roll, and a slide positioned below said After initially assembling rotor and constructed and arranged to carry said roll at its upper extremity.

4. In a machine for operating upon sheet material, a driven rotor having an annular V groove constructed and arranged to receive between its walls adjacent upturned margins of work pieces arranged edge-to-edge, a work supporting roll, a slide positioned below said rotor and constructed and arranged to carry said roll at its upper extremity, means for moving the slide upwardly to bring the roll into engagement with the work, and manually operated means for moving the slide downwardly.

5. In a machine for uniting cemented edges of sheet material, a driven rotary shaft provided with an annular groove constructed and arranged to receive between its walls the margins of work pieces to be united, a slide positioned in alinement with said groove and arranged for movement toward and from said rotary shaft, and a freely rotating element at the end of the slide nearest said shaft constructed and arranged to engage the work and hold it against said shaft.

6. In a machine for uniting cemented edges of sheet material, a driven rotary shaft provided with an annular groove constructed and arranged to receive between its walls the margins of workment with said V groove, a freely rotating ele-- ment mounted in said slide and constructed and arranged to engage the work and hold it against said rotary shaft, a spring for moving the slide toward the shaft, and manually operated means for moving the slide away from the shaft.

8. In a machine for operating upon sheet material, work engaging means having two work engaging faces which rotate about a common axis and are constructed and arranged to receive work pieces between them, and means for holding the Work against said work engaging means comprising a work engaging roll and a carrier for the roll movable in a direction perpendicular to said axis.

9. In a machine for operating upon sheet material, work engaging means having two work engaging faceswhich rotate about a common axis and are constructed and arranged to receive work pieces between them, a slide positioned perpendicularly to said axis and in alinement with said work engaging faces, a freely rotating element mounted in said slide and constructed and arranged to engage the work and hold it against said work engaging faces, a spring for operating the slide, and manually operated means for retracting the slide.

10. In a machine for operating upon sheet material, work engaging means having two work engaging surfaces whichrotate about a common axis and are constructed and arranged to receivework pieces between them, a ball for holding the work against said work engaging means, a mem-' ber in whichthe ball is loosely mounted, and means operating on said member to press the ball against the work.

MAURICE D. WILLIAMS. i 

